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Like a few other West Coast rap acts, including
the Pharcyde and
Jurassic 5,
Blackalicious have generally favored what hip-hoppers call the "positive tip"; in other words, their lyrics have often been spiritual and uplifting rather than violent or misogynistic. Like a lot of experimental alternative rappers,
Blackalicious can be quirky and eccentric; nonetheless, spirituality is a big part of the group's music. Although
Blackalicious weren't formed until the early '90s, their members had known each other since the late '80s. Founding members
Gift of Gab (Timothy Parker) and
Chief Xcel (
Xavier Mosley) first met in Sacramento, California, in 1987 when they were students at John F. Kennedy High School. Neither of them was originally from Sacramento; DJ/producer
Xcel (who was going by DJ IceSki at the time) was a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, while rapper
Gift of Gab was from Los Angeles' suburban San Fernando Valley.
The two went their separate ways after
Gift of Gab (also known as Gabby T) graduated from Kennedy High in 1989, but they were reunited in Davis, California, in 1992. By that time,
Xcel had become a student at the University of California at Davis and the
Gift of Gab had moved to Davis to form
Blackalicious with him. UC Davis was where
Xcel had started working with a hip-hop crew named SoleSides, whose members included
DJ Shadow,
Lateef the Truth Speaker, and
Lyrics Born. SoleSides Records was the name of the SoleSides Crew's Northern California record company, and in 1994 that label released
Blackalicious' debut single, "Swan Lake." Although not a triple-platinum smash, the single was a small underground hit that fared well among alternative rap audiences. The following year, SoleSides Records released a
Blackalicious EP titled
Melodica. By late 1997 SoleSides Records had transformed into Quannum Records, and in 1999 Quannum put out another
Blackalicious EP,
A2G.
In 2000 Quannum released the group's full-length debut,
Nia (whose title is the Swahili word for purpose). After being together eight years,
Blackalicious finally signed with a major label when, in late 2000, the Californians were added by
MCA. In April 2002 Quannum/
MCA released
Blazing Arrow, which boasted guest appearances ranging from vocalist
Zack de la Rocha (of
Rage Against the Machine) to
the Roots'
Questlove to veteran soul and jazz poet
Gil Scott-Heron. After the requisite tour, both
Xcel and Gab began developing solo material; Quannum released both Maroons' Ambush (
Chief Xcel with
Latyrx's
Lateef the Truth Speaker) as well as a
Gift of Gab solo LP, Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up. The pair returned in 2005 for their third album,
The Craft, with a contract in hand from the Anti- label.
Although ten years passed without a
Blackalicious album,
Gift of Gab made three additional solo albums while
Xcel teamed with RV Salters as Burning House.
Gift of Gab and
Xcel also worked on
Imani, Vol. 1 during three of those years and released it as the fourth
Blackalicious full-length in 2015. The likes of
Lateef,
Lyrics Born,
Imani Coppola, and
Zap Mama made guest appearances. Rapper
Gift of Gab died on June 18, 2021 at the age of 50. ~ Alex Henderson